Georgetown University: Not Killing Cats

Some time ago, a member of the Burleith Listserv posted a scathing item about her neighbor, Georgetown University. The venerable college, she claimed, was slaying cats left behind by irresponsible coed renters. At the least, she wrote, officials were trapping them and delivering them to kill shelters.

"Renee202" also worried the college was sealing kitties in cement: "If you look around their campus you see areas that used to have a gutter like openings are now completely filled in. I would often see homeless cats often go into them when you approached....The cats who were in those gutters must have died a gruesome death."

Linda Greenan, assistant vice president of external relations, says that just isn't so.

"There is no truth to this statement. Nothing of the sort is taking place on campus," Greenan says in an "official response" posted on the message board. "At one time, several years ago, we had a problem with feral cats living on campus. Over the course of the time when this was a problem—about a year—we would cage the cats and relocate them to a farm in Pennsylvania. None of them were destroyed and we've not had this problem for many years."

So there, you have it, kids. Just like your parents told you when Mr. Cat failed to come home, he was taken to "a farm in Pennsylvania." I feel so much better now.